CHERUB: Extermination
by Elledreamer
Summary: James Adams is on a small time mission trying to uncover a series of mysterious local thefts. However, disaster strikes when he follows a new lead...and then everything goes horribly wrong... ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you may recognise. This applies for the entire fic.**

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Chapter 1

Lauren finished dragging the branch and dumped it on the floor next to Kyle's feet.

"Right." She said wiping her muddy hands on her trousers. "That's the last branch I'm getting". Kyle, who had bent down to retrieve Lauren's branch rolled his eyes.

"Lauren, I think we're going to need a few more". Lauren glared at him.

"So why don't you get some then?" Kyle looked at Lauren as if she was stupid.

"Because I'm building it! A fine shelter it's going to be too".  
"Well shift. I'm going to build it now" said Lauren. She was distinctly fed up with fetching branches, especially as the last one had caused her a trip down one of the muddiest slopes Lauren had ever seen in her life. Her green combat pants were now brown and soggy.

Lauren walked up to Kyle and took the branch off him.

"Look Kyle I'm the Senior agent here, so you better shift your butt else I'll get you so much time scrubbing the changing rooms you'll be begging for a chance to do some light fetching work." Kyle glared at her.

"You sure they didn't give you a brain transplant along with that black shirt? You're sound a lot like some of the teachers". Lauren tilted her head, a fierce look on her face.

"Fine" Kyle grumbled. He picked up his fleece and headed off into the woods. Lauren called after him.

"Go help Bethany, she's down near that brook". Kyle waved his hand at Lauren, and she could have sworn she saw him stick his finger up at her before she turned back around.

Two hours later the shelter was done. Lauren had set the other three agents in her group different tasks. Kyle was getting a fire started while Bethany and Dana were both searching for food.

They were all on a training exercise for survival skills. Lauren, Kyle, Dana and Bethany made up team six of twenty teams. Each team was made up of four agents; two navy shirts, a grey shirt, and a black shirt who was the team leader. Lauren was the black shirt. Since the exercise was due to last at least a week, red shirts weren't allowed to take part in the exercise, so instead the agents left behind were giving them the basics in survival training.

Lauren had secretly wished she could have been back at campus with them with her own warm bed and hot shower but now she was kind of enjoying herself. The four of them had managed to build a good-sized shelter, and Dana had also created some benches and a toilet area. It was actually quite homely. Plus Lauren thought her team was good.

Bethany was her best friend of campus, so they already got along great. Kyle was the oldest of the four being sixteen and had his navy shirt. Lauren liked Kyle. He was mates with her brother James but she'd always liked him, and because he was gay he didn't drool over all the girls on campus, which was one of the things that really annoyed Lauren about James. Dana was fifteen and also in a navy shirt. Lauren had worked with her on their last mission and found that Dana was a very talented agent, which would definitely prove useful.

Kyle had managed to get the fire going and it provided a little sprinkling of light in the dusky gloom. Dana and Bethany had managed to catch a rabbit (humanely) and it was now roasting over the fire. Lauren laid back on the cold earth and put her hands behind her head. This was nice…

Lauren woke with a gasp. A hand cut it off. Her eyes darted around in the darkness. Kyle was leant above her. It was his hand.

"Shhhhh" he whispered. "There's someone out there". Lauren nodded to show she'd understood and sat up. As she did her arm brushed against Dana's, who in turn rolled against Bethany. Luckily both the girls woke up without a sound.

"I think it's one of the other groups" said Kyle, his voice barley audible. Lauren glanced at him before slowly crawling out of their shelter. She reached the fire and studied the trees in front of her.

"Hello?" she whispered to the darkness.

Lauren was just about to make her way back when a wave of coldness hit her. She was soaked in cold river water. She leapt up and glared into the darkness.

"Okay, who was that?" she shouted, pushing her dripping hair out of her face.

Kyle and the others had joined her now and they could hear giggling from the bushes before another sea of water hit the other three. Then Kyle spotted them.

"Bruce" he shouted, "You are so dead, I'm soaked!"

Lauren folded her arms in anger as Bruce came out of the trees, clutching his side from laughing so much. Gabrielle, who'd recently aquired her navy shirt, and Rat, a newly trained Cherub whom Lauren had met on her last mission, closely followed him.

Kyle glared at Bruce while Bethany and Lauren both made towards Bruce, Dana just stood there forlornly. Her face set.

"Who's you senior agent?" Kyle spluttered.

"Dave" giggled Gabrielle "He doesn't know". Kyle just shook his head incredulous and stormed back to the camp. Bethany and Lauren both sighed and started to wring out their clothing as they walked after him. Dana merely stood as a grin crept onto her face.

"You might find this funny now" she said "But you just wait till we get you back".


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

James woke up. Someone was poking him. He sighed and rolled over pulling his duvet up over his head.

"Go away" he mumbled.

"James!" protested a voice. "James get up!" The person was poking him again; "If you don't get up James I'll pull you out of that bed".

James finally admitted defeat. Partly because he knew he'd never get back to sleep now and partly because he knew that the person standing above his bed was perfectly capable of pulling him out, and much more.

He opened his eyes squinting in the bright light. Stood above his bed was Kerry. His girlfriend and partner for the mission. She was dressed in jeans and a green stripy top. Her long black hair was pulled back into plaits on the top of her head and she was staring at James, arms folded and lips pursed.

"Come on James, we've got a job to do, it's half past eleven and _you're _not even up yet!" James slowly pulled himself out of bed and started searching for his T-Shirt from yesterday.

"Ahh Kerry, why don't you lighten up a little? Treat this as a holiday!" he pulled on his jeans and started to look for two socks that matched.

"Because it's not a holiday James. It may be small but it's still a mission". She pulled a clean pair of socks out of her pocket and handed them to James. He grinned

"You read my mind". Kerry sat down on the bed next to him.

"I took this mission for several reasons Kerry. It was a favour to Chloe. This is her first mission as a controller and I offered us up to do it to save her finding someone. Secondly, it gets me out of school, which let's admit is always a good thing. Plus" he said before Kerry butted in "Plus, it gets me out of that stupid survival week. Besides I thought you wanted a mission?"

"Well I suppose," said Kerry drawing invisible patterns on the duvet with her finger. "At least I get to spend time with you" she leaned over James.

"Kiss?" she asked. James nodded. Suddenly he was aware of Kerry tickling him. James hated to be tickled. Soon he was on the floor begging for mercy. Kerry, giggling, ran off out the room and downstairs. James followed her into the kitchen. Chloe was sat at the table reading a paper and eating a bowl of cereal.

"Shouldn't you be out with the local kids by now James?"

"Yeah but-"

"Come on" interrupted Chloe "You volunteered for this, you shouldn't be slacking"

"What bout Kerry" protested James "Why aren't you telling her off too?"

"Kerry's been out once already" said Chloe "Get moving".

"Fine" sighed James "Can I at least have some breakfast?" Chloe merely pointed at the fruit bowl and then jerked her thumb at the door. James sighed and picked out an apple before following Kerry outside.

The kids in Mount estate were basically a good bunch. When James and Kerry had arrived they'd had no problem making friends. There wasn't a lot to do around the area so they leapt at anything new, even new kids.

In a way the kids had made James and Kerry's jobs a little easier:

EXCERPT FROM MISSION BREIFING FOR JAMES ADAMS AND KERRY CHANG:

THE ROLE OF CHERUB:

_Agents should aim to socialise with children in the local area. They are to spend time with the children and take part in similar activities to them. As they do this agents should attempt to find out as much as possible about the local crimes in the area. Two children in the area have been picked out as prime suspects due to previous criminal convictions. If possible agents should make attempts to form a close bond with these children:_

JAMES ADAMS-ALEX STEPFORD

KERRY CHANG-CHANELLE HOLDEN

So far James and Kerry hadn't found out much about the crimes. A few of the kids had talked about vandalism, but no one had ever admitted to doing anything. They had been there a week already and Cherub had threatened to pull them out if nothing turned up. James didn't like that. He'd never failed on a mission before and besides, if he went back now, he'd be forced to take part in the survival training. Something he would rather avoid.

The thing was James didn't actually think any of the kids in the area were really to blame. They may have vandalised some of the properties and smaller things but James reckoned that the larger things like the stealing was down to someone else. Still, if there was anything to find out, James vowed he would. It may have been a small time mission but it was still worth doing. Kerry was right. At least it would earn him some brownie points with Meryl if he did turn something up.

James and Kerry reached the small playground where most of the kids hung out. There were a few there already, sitting on the climbing frame and leaning against the fence. A few of the older ones were smoking. Kerry went over to join a group of girls, one of which was Chanelle Holden, her main target.

So far, James hadn't even talked to Alex. The boy was a loner. Always on his own in the corner of the playground. Eyeing the rest of the group suspiciously. The local kids called him a freak. And there had been a couple of times when James had been there when he'd been the subject of jeers and torment.

When he'd asked about Alex the other boys had shrugged and come out with the usual stuff, inevitably the conversation had led to another round of teasing and shouting to the boy. James hadn't asked again.

James couldn't have approached Alex without the rest of the group shouting at him not to. James couldn't afford to lose contact with such a large group in the mission. Not even for his main subject. He'd discussed it through with Chloe and she'd agreed.

Now, looking round the playground, James saw that none of his gang was around. But sat in his usual place in the corner was Alex. It was too big an opportunity to pass over. James headed over to where the boy was sat.

"Hi" he said. Alex looked up briefly before turning away again.

"I'm not going to call you" said James sitting down next to him. "I never liked that, and you looked lonely". James was taking a risk. He sounded soft, it could encourage Alex to be friends with him, or it might encourage him not to be. Alex shook his head.

"Yeah right, you'll sit here all nice and try to find out more things to tease me about. No thanks."

"No really" said James "That lot are idiots, I never really liked them".

Alex looked at him as if he was deciding what to do. Finally he shrugged and turned back to James.

"Thanks I guess," he said. "There's just no one here I've ever got on with. No ones ever made the effort before you". James shrugged too.

"So" he said "Have you lived here all your life?"

"Unfortunately, yes" sighed Alex "Mum moved here before I was born, and now she's got Steve she won't be moving out anytime soon". He looked at James. "How bout you? What do you think of this place?"

James and Kerry's cover was that they were siblings who had moved to Mount estate with their mum because she had a new job down there.

"To be honest" said James "It's a trash pile".

James had been trained to create a bond with targets by feigning similar interests and opinions. He had sensed that Alex disliked living here and had shown his feelings on it too.

"Couldn't agree with you less" smiled Alex. "There aren't even any decent girls. Well apart from Chanelle I suppose. But I can dream on".

"I know Chanelle," said James "My sister's friends with her"

"Who? The Chinese chick?" Alex scoffed. James frowned.

"She's not Chinese"

"Well you sure look different," said Alex. James groaned inwardly.

Usually when agents had to pass off as siblings they got similar looking agents. There hadn't been as much time to sort this mission out, and James had pleaded with Chloe to let Kerry on the mission too. It was after all the paperwork had been sorted out too, so there hadn't been a chance to alter it to say they had been fostered or adopted which was what Cherub usually did in situations where two similar agents couldn't be found.

James tilted his head.

"Dodgy genes I guess he said". Fortunately Alex seemed to accept this and didn't ask anything else. Across the playground James noticed his group of boys come in. Alex noticed too.

"You off then? Don't want to be caught with me?" James considered it for a brief second.

"No" he said "I like you, you're much more interesting than that lot. Let them see me". He noticed a smile creep up on Alex's face. The smile soon faded when they saw the boys coming up.

Ryan Hartwell, one of the biggest and most popular boys in the gang came up

"What you doing with the freak Garce?" James and Kerry's fake surname for the mission was Garcia, which had landed them with the nicknames Garce and GG for Kerry, short for Garce girl.

James stood up

"I want to hang out here," he said.

"Oh really" said Ryan "You sure Garce? Cos hanging round with the freak makes _you_ a freak too"

"I'm staying here," he said walking up to Ryan. Ryan stepped up to James and leaned in to his face.

"Then you've just made a very big mistake freak follower, cos no one betrays Ryan Hartwell and gets away with it".


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kerry could see that James was in trouble. He was stood over in the corner with Alex Stepford and a larger group of boys facing them. Usually, Kerry wouldn't have worried. James could easily beat any of the boys in a fight, but the fact that it was fifteen against two made it a whole lot worse. She considered going over and helping, but it would be a bit out of character.

Chanelle, who was leant against the face next to her, had obviously noticed the confrontation too.

"Hey GG, looks like a fight's brewing, wanna go watch?" Another girl who was standing with them pointed over to the group of boys.

"Kerry, it's your brother. What's he doing with the freak?" Kerry frowned in return,

"I don't know," she muttered. She had been under the impression that James had decided not to make friends with Alex. She spotted the other girls looking at her, waiting for an answer.

She scowled and turned away.

"I don't know and I don't care. He's an idiot. Let him get beat up." Over in the corner a boy had walked up to James and pushed him backwards. Kerry decided that she couldn't just stand around so she looked back at the girls who were starting to head over with the other kids in dribs and drabs.

"Look Chanelle? I'm heading home. I better tell mum that the idiot's got himself into trouble". Chanelle shrugged and ran after her friends.

As soon as they had all gone, Kerry vaulted the playground railing and started sprinting towards the house.

James fell back as Ryan pushed him into the railings. He didn't know what to do. There was a huge gang of kids behind Ryan. All of them on his side. It was him and Alex against the rest of the playground.

"Any ideas?" he muttered to Alex.

Alex was glaring at the group, fists clenched. He glanced at James.

"When I run, follow me," he muttered back. Ryan had obviously heard him.

"You'll never get away from me freaks. You'll get what you deserve". He quickly advanced towards them.

"Time to learn who's boss freaks". He raised his arm to hit Alex. He never got the chance. Alex grabbed Ryan's arm, flicked his ankle around Ryan's and sent him crashing to the floor. As soon as it had happened Alex grabbed James's arm and started running to the playground exit. James followed without argument.

As they weaved through the gates, James looked back to see a group of boys, led by a very pissed off looking Ryan, chasing after them. Alex and James charged down the road. James let Alex lead, trusting his knowledge of the area. They ran into the nearby estate. Alex led James through small alleyways and cut across gardens. He was doing very well to try to stop the others following. James glanced back again; there was still a large group of boys following. He knew he could carry on, but what about Alex?

They cut through someone's front yard, flying past a very bemused looking woman who was hanging out her washing. When she saw the larger group following, she let out a little shriek and ran inside before the tornado struck her.

Suddenly, they turned a corner, and were faced with a solid brick wall ahead. Alex stopped and swore under his breath. He glanced at James.

"You know how to punch?" James nodded in return and with Alex, turned to face the boys who were just coming round the corner. He could see Ryan at the front with a bold grin on his face. James couldn't see how they were going to get out of this in one piece. Alex seemed confident. But there was only so much the two of them could do.

"James!" James was aware of someone shouting his name. But instead of a taunting sneer from the boys ahead, it was a soft, sharp female voice. Coming from behind him and Alex. He turned.

"Kerry!" The wall was about three metres up. A bordering wall to a different estate. Kerry was sat astride it, her arm out.

"James come on you idiot!" Alex had noticed Kerry by now too, as had Ryan and his mates.

"Aww look freaks, it's a girly wirly thinking she can help you. Fat chance. Tell me Garce has your sister always looked after you since you were little, or is it cos you're a freak now?" Kerry looked outraged at having being called a girly wirly and for a moment it seemed as though she was going to jump down and go after Ryan herself, but she merely ignored him and reached her arm out further.

"James, come on!". James wasted no more time he turned and faced Alex.

"You know how to do this?" he asked. Alex nodded, a steely expression on his face.

"You go first". James sighed. In normal circumstances he would've argued for Alex to go before him, but Ryan was advancing again, and at least there would be two people to pull Alex up.

But then James thought of something. The mission was evidently lost. If James were considered an outsider, he'd never be able to connect with the kids again. Plus, the stunt that they were about to pull would probably seem suspicious. Kerry helping him so readily did, especially as James and Kerry had already created the story that they didn't get along.

So he did the first thing that came to his mind. He charged forward and punched Ryan right in the face. As blood spurted from Ryan's face James ran back towards the wall and powered up it, using his feet to propel him up and reaching out for Kerry's waiting hand. She grasped it firmly and helped to pull him up.

As soon as James was sat astride the wall along with Kerry he looked back down to Alex. The group of boys, really angry now. Many of them were advancing quickly.

"Alex!" James called down. Alex glanced up, a small grin forming on his face. Before James could say anything Alex had run forward and smacked Ryan full force again in the face.

Ryan howled in pain and sunk to the floor. Before the other boys could even comprehend what had happened and approach Alex again, he had already mimicked James and leapt up to the top of the wall, aided by Kerry and James.

The three of them glanced down at the angry, swearing boys before dropping down onto the dustbins on the other side of the wall, which Kerry had apparently used to climb up. When they hopped down Kerry helped James to push the dustbins out of the way so it would be harder for the boys to follow.

"What now?" asked Kerry looking at the two boys. Alex was grinning at her.

"That was great," he said "You're well phat GG". Kerry smiled briefly.

"Yeah, but we better get going, sooner or later they're going to work out how to follow, and personally I don't want to be around when they do".

"Ok, let's go home then" said James. Alex shook his head

"No, they know where you live. Come back to my place, they can't follow there. You too GG."

"Thanks" said Kerry briefly as they set off after him.

Alex led them to the edge of Mount estate and down a small public footpath that led to the main road that ran alongside it. They followed him halfway down and stopped outside a large house. It had large black gates with a gravel driveway leading to a double garage. The house was cream with bay windows and a small porch.

"Wow" muttered James "This place is great". Alex smiled as they stepped up onto the porch.

"It's my mum, she's pretty loaded." James thought this sounded a little odd, it sounded like something that could be worth knowing but James didn't press the matter.

Alex led them into a long hallway. The wood gleamed in the sunlight and everything was clean, polished and tidy.

"Come to my room" he said. They headed up the staircase and up into Alex's room.

The first thing that James noticed was that this boy was spoiled. Well, maybe not spoiled, but definitely rich. Alex had two TVs. One on a corner shelf up near the ceiling so it was level with the raised double bed. Another TV sat on a small table, with an X-Box, PS2 and, nearby a PSP was laid down too. A state of the art stereo stood in a corner with an MP4 player on top of it. There was also a skateboard, two pairs of roller skates and over six pairs of trainers.

The scene was familiar to James. This was exactly what his bedroom had looked like before he came to Cherub. Every new thing going, he had had. James's mum had been a thief and James had gotten a share of the spoils. He glanced over to Alex who had thrown himself onto the couch under the bed.

"What you doing on the Mount Estate, if you have all this?" Alex shrugged.

"I don't really use it. I don't really need it. It's my mum. Make yourself at home." James noticed Alex had mentioned his mum again. This was definitely something worth exploring, but he needed to find the right moment. He shot a look at Kerry, about to send her out, but Kerry didn't need the words.

"I'm going to phone mum actually. Better tell her you're ok. I'll go in the bathroom if that's ok?" Alex nodded and waved his hand in the direction of the door.

"Third on the right, or second on the left. Take your pick". Kerry headed out.

She entered the first bathroom she found and locked the door. As she sat down on the toilet seat she pulled out her mobile. Chloe was on speed dial and within a matter of seconds Kerry was talking to her mission controller.

"Hey Chloe"

"Kerry? Are you ok? Where are you?"

"It's fine Chloe, we're at that kid Alex's house".

"Is James with you?"

"Yeah. He's fine"

"Last time I saw you, you were out of breath and looking for a map saying that James was about to get beat up. What happened?"

"There was a chase, I helped James and Alex up a wall and we threw them off. That's why we came here."

"Where is here?" Kerry gave her the address.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Yeah" replied Kerry "James punched a guy. So did Alex". Chloe made a tutting noise on the other end of the line.

"Why on earth did he do that?"

"Beats me" said Kerry "But that's boys for you". Chloe sighed.

"Oh Chloe. I think we might be onto something with this boy. You see he's loaded and he keeps mentioning his mum whenever we question it. It seems a bit dodgy to me. I think James is talking to him now."

"Ok" said Chloe "Good work. Try to find out as much as possible, but don't press it. You know, the usual. I'll see you later and you can fill me in properly."

"Ok bye Chloe"

"Bye".

Kerry hung up. She decided to give James a little more time so she slipped out of the bathroom and began to explore. The house was big enough so that if she were caught, her claim to be lost would be completely valid.

James wandered over to join Alex on the sofa as Kerry left. He wanted to find a way to get Alex talking about his mum some more.

"I wish I had stuff like this," he said, staring around. Alex didn't respond. He started loading up the PS2.

"Wanna game?"

"Sure". James grabbed a controller and waited for the game to load.

"I don't usually stay round here too much. It gets pretty lonely." Alex grinned to himself after he spoke. "Not that I'm much less lonely there. But I hate the emptiness of this house. It's so hollow." James selected his car and looked across at Alex.

"Are you on you own a lot?"

"Yeah" replied Alex. "Mum's always out with Frank. "Either that or she's-". He stopped abruptly and looked at James, causing his car to go careering into a tree.

"Can I trust you James?" James nodded sincerely.

"Of course. Besides, you really think I'd go back up to Ryan to tell him anything anymore?" Alex stared at James as if considering options.

"I suppose" he said eventually "You did punch him".

Alex paused the game and turned to face James.

"Ok" he sighed, "The reason I have so much stuff, is that my mum's a thief". James just looked intently at Alex. It wasn't a big surprise to him, and in a way it was pretty familiar. Alex continued.

"She does all this bank stuff. I don't get it all really. But that's why she's out a lot. That's why I hate it here. It's tainted." He chucked the controller down to the floor bitterly. James did the same putting his down next to him. "She does local crimes too," continued Alex. "And you know what the worst bit is?" There was a short silence.

"She makes me do it myself".


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A misty drizzle hung mournfully about the forest. Lauren sat motionless inside the shelter watching the solemn drips of left over rain, fall from the leaves in front of her.

Bethany laid next to her, fiddling with some bark. Dana was out looking for food. Lauren had asked for volunteers and as soon as the rain had stopped Dana had leapt up and left.

It seemed that survival wasn't one of Dana's strong points. Dana wanted to be doing something, and the majority of survival was sitting around.

Kyle was knelt just outside the shelter in his raincoat trying to start a fire. Lauren had asked for volunteers for that too, when she hadn't got any she'd sent Kyle. Merely for the fact that it was rather entertaining watching him plastered in mud and rain trying to start a fire, which inevitably, wouldn't start.

Lauren heard a loud cough from above her. Kyle was stood there clutching two sticks in his hands with a fuming expression on his face.

"Lauren, there's no way we're going to have a fire in this. Everything's sodden and there're not even any leaves that aren't mulch. We'll have to re think dinner." Lauren looked up and smiled softly.

"I know Kyle. Bethany and I made up a fire inside the shelter ten minutes ago. I thought you knew?"

Kyle shook his head incredulously before flinging himself down next to Lauren.  
"I can't believe you sometimes Lauren. You're worse than your brother" Lauren just grinned to Bethany behind his back.

"Ok then" she said. I've got an idea to cheer you up. Let's get back Bruce and the others."

"What now?" Kyle asked her frowning. Lauren rolled her eyes.

"Of course now, you twit!" she sighed and looked around her. Slowly a grin crept up on her face.

"You got an idea?" Bethany asked her sitting up. Lauren looked at her grinning, then back to Kyle.

"I think I've got just the thing"

James sat at the kitchen table clutching a mug of hot chocolate. Kerry sat next to him and Chloe was leant against the cabinets.

"So what now?" Kerry asked sipping her own hot chocolate. Chloe sighed.

"Well we definitely need to find out more before reaching any definite conclusions" she glanced over at James. "You said Alex didn't seem to eager to talk about it?" James nodded.

"Yeah. He was definitely hiding something. I was getting the impression that there's something wrong."

"OK" said Chloe nodding to herself. She bit her lip and stared across the room for a couple of seconds, as if deep in thought. "Ok" she continued "Ok. Kerry I want you to talk to Alex, try to get some more info out of him. He might be happier to talk to you. You're a girl and I don't think he'd see you as such a close friend as James". Kerry nodded

"OK"

"And James" Chloe carried on "We need to find out some more about this mum directly. We need to get some microphones in their house. It would also be good if you could see this woman yourself. Keep pushing for visits and try to grab a chance to plant stuff." James opened his mouth to say something but Chloe put her hand up before he could say anything.

"But!" she said sharply to the two of them. "Don't take any risks – either of you! James if a chance doesn't come along to plant things then don't risk it. I wouldn't fancy clearing up any messes like that".

Lauren was surprised that Bruce and the others weren't around. The rain had stopped a few minuets ago but a misty drizzle still hung around like a bad smell and there wasn't anything in sight that wasn't wet. If they weren't tricking Bruce themselves, she was sure they'd all be in the shelter together. Well, Kyle would probably be outside doing something that she would have made him do Lauren thought with a smile.

She could see their shelter from where she was on the edge of the clearing. It wasn't as good as theirs.

"It's not as good as ours" Bethany hissed coming up to Lauren. Lauren grinned at her friend.

"Got it?" she asked. Bethany nodded and held up what she was carrying. Lauren could see the muddy rainwater running from the bottom, and even from where she was standing, she could smell the reek of what it was.

Bundled in an old raincoat (of Kyle's) was everything nasty the four of them could find. Lauren had collected all the mud left over from the rainfall, as well as twigs, leaves and anything else that was plastered in mud and grime and stuffed it into three piles. Kyle had disappeared while the other three were collecting stuff and he had come back with two bin bags that could have only come from the bins at the back of Cherub. Finally Bethany and Dana had carried the mess down to the stream in some old clothes and dunked them in there a few times. Lauren had to admit; it was one of the most disgusting things she'd ever seen.

As Bethany handed her the bundle she was carrying she frowned.

"So where are they?" she whispered to Lauren, peering cautiously about the campsite. Lauren shrugged.

"Beats me, as long as they don't come back in the next two minuets then I don't care" With a last glance in Bethany's direction Lauren set off quietly towards the group's shelter.

She heard Kyle and Dana following and knew that Bethany would be keeping watch back at the edge of the clearing. Lauren spotted what she was looking for as soon as she saw it.

Three sleeping bags were strewn on the ground under the shelter of branches. A fourth sleeping bag was hung up on an overhanging branch, and Lauren immediately guessed that it was Dave's as he was probably the only one to have the sense to hang it up, like the four in her own team had done.

Slowly, Lauren crept up to the sleeping bags and found the one she wanted. Bruce's sleeping bag was immediately recognisable from the small, blue, teddy bear poking it's head out the top.

She moved the teddy out of the way before shoving her whole bundle into the sleeping bag making sure it went all the way down to the bottom and it was flattened out. She picked up the old coat she had been using and stood back to admire her work. Apart from a few lumps the sleeping bag looked normal.

Dana walked up to her a smile on her face after filling Gabrielle's sleeping bag.

"I'd say that was a job well done" she said grinning. Lauren gave her a high five and turned round looking for Kyle.

He was stood with his back to them looking down at something.

"Kyle?" Lauren asked. He didn't move. "Kyle!" Lauren sighed "Come on!" When Kyle still didn't respond she walked up to him. "Earth to Kyle – you deaf or what?" Kyle glanced at her. He was holding a jumper, the one he'd used to carry the gunk.

"You guys" he said softly "I think I know where they are."

Slowly, Kyle pointed out down the ground. Lauren's eyes followed his hands toward the ground.

"Oh my…"

James walked along the road glancing backwards every now and again. He didn't want to run into Ryan again if he could help it. Alex's house looked even more impressive this time. It was set back from the road with a big drive and neatly trimmed flowerbeds.

After the discussion with Chloe, James and Kerry had headed up to bed and planned what they were going to do the next day. It was a Sunday, so James was hopeful that Alex's mum would be in, and that he'd get a chance to meet her. If not, he'd try to plant some microphones about the house.

Chloe had given him some bugs before leaving and they were in a re-sealable bag that was taped to his stomach.

Kerry was heading back down to the playground. Now they had a lead, she had something to try discussing with the other kids.

James reached the door and knocked using the heavy lion knocker. A thin, blonde woman came to the door. She looked a little shocked to see James and soon adjusted her expression to one of superiority and she clutched her frilly apron almost protectively.

"Yes?" she asked, sounding like there was a bad smell under her nose instead of a fourteen-year-old boy.

"I'm a friend of Alex's" James said, trying his best to sound polite and friendly "I'm James. I just moved in a while back down round the estate".

The woman made a scoffing sound.

"_That_ place. I do wish Alex wouldn't go there. It's filled with rowdy and dirty people" She glanced at James as if examining him for dirtiness, so as to protect her immaculately polished wooded floor.

At that point Alex game trotting down the stairs. He grinned when he saw James.

"James! Hi!" He joined them at the door. "Mum, this is James, James, this is my mum" Alex's mum smiled in a way that made James feel like he was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

"Oh how wonderful she said. Do come in James. You will wipe your feet won't you?"

James stepped inside, obligingly wiping his feet on the doormat.

"So." Said Alex's mum clasping her hands together. "Why don't we go and have a nice cup of tea, and James, you can tell me all about yourself?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Mrs Stepford smiled with composure all the way through the conversation. James answered all her questions politely while Alex sat in the corner sending dirty glances over to the pair every few minutes.

"Well James, Alex tells me that you helped him escape a group of bullies. That sounds wonderful – how did you do it?" James was irritated by the fact that Mrs Stepford talked to him like a two year old. He shrugged in response to her question.

"Not much really. The idiots just needed someone to stand up to them – Alex helped _me_ really. Then my sister helped us up a wall. Oh – and I punched Ryan."

Mrs Stepford was sat nodding gazing intently at James. Her eyes were squinted with concentration and every so often she nodded. She leaned forward.

"You sound like a very resourceful boy James" she said "How would you like to do me a favour and earn some money while your at it?" Out of the corner of his eye James caught Alex's eyes widen and, he could have sworn he saw Alex's lips mouth out a swear word. James turned his attention back too Mrs Stepford. Judging by Alex's reaction, this was going to turn into something big. Something James couldn't pass along on.

He looked up at Mrs Stepford and grinned.

"That sounds great. I'm short on cash at the moment. What sort of favour?" Mrs Stepford smiled testily.

"Well lets not concern ourselves with the details just yet James but I need you to deliver something for me, and then bring something back. It's all quite easy." James looked away as if he were considering the options. Then he looked up at Mrs Stepford again.

"I'm in" he said bluntly. Mrs Stepford grinned.

"Oh! That's great!" she said, "I assure you James, you will be well rewarded." James frowned.

"Would I be the only one doing this job for you?" Mrs Stepford's lips thinned and she glanced over at Alex.

"Oh I'll get Alex to come along with you" she said happily. Alex opened his mouth in disgust.

"Mum! No! You can't – " But his mum cut him off.

"Don't be silly Alex. I want you to go with James and help. He can't do it all on his own now can he?" she ignored Alex's sulking face and turned towards James. "you might need a third person to help you carry things. Have you got any friends who could help? Trusting friends? I would ask Alex but he's not really a social chameleon." She looked over at her son again and pursed her lips. James shrugged.

"I could ask my sister. She's up for anything". Mrs Stepford thought for a moment before clapping her hands together.

"Well that's sorted then – what's your sister's name James?"

"Kerry"

"Well I'd like to see her just to check she's ok with everything, but I do believe we are ready to go. Come back tomorrow and we'll talk details."

Lauren was fuming. After thinking they'd come up with the best trick ever…Bruce had beaten them…again. The four of them had finally reached their own campsite.

To say it was a mess was an understatement. The shelter was destroyed, well squashed would be more appropriate. Clothes were strewn all across the campsite, on top of the shelter, around the clearing, all down the slope to the stream. All of them covered in dirt. They were everywhere. The worst bit was, was that it was their own clothes. Lauren spotted one of her old red Cherub shirts hanging off a tree. Stood next to the shelter were Bruce, Gabrielle, Rat and, this time Dave. All of them bore smug expressions and looked immensely pleased with themselves.

Back at Bruce's camp-site, Kyle had found a slip of paper on the ground. It was a list of where all their rooms were. Lauren had thought that they'd be trashing the room, stuffing the toilets with gunk or something, nothing like this…

Lauren had had enough. She glared up at Bruce.

"I can't believe you!" she yelled, "This is totally stupid!" Bruce just giggled.

"You think it's funny do you?" Dana sneered moving forwards too. "This is totally out of order!" Bruce continued to smile

"I can't believe you were thick enough to leave your camp-site Lauren. This was great" Lauren started to make a snide remark back about the trick they'd just played, but it seemed small in comparison. She just shook her head and looked up at the four of them.

"Just get out." She said When they didn't move she walked forwards again "Get out, get out, get out, GET OUT!" she raised her voice to a yell. It worked. Bruce and the others realised that they'd probably gone too far, but Bruce wasn't about to admit it. He headed off out of the campsite frowning. Dave followed at a saunter, a small grin on his face, muttering something about 'kids'. Rat and Gabrielle stayed. They both looked guilty, Rat in particular.

"Do you want help picking them up?" Gabrielle offered taking a couple of steps forward. Lauren didn't answer.

"Look" Gabrielle continued, "We didn't really think it was such a good idea and well Bruce-" Rat put a hand on her arm.

"Come on Gabrielle" he said. Gabrielle finally admitted defeat and followed Bruce out of the campsite. Lauren didn't really spite Gabrielle and Rat…and even Dave. She knew that there was one person behind this that made her insides burn with rage. Bruce.

She turned to look at the others. Dana shared a similar expression to hers, full of and anger. Bethany stood next to Kyle staring in disbelief as if she couldn't quite believe it and Kyle…It was the expression on Kyle's face that got Lauren even angrier. He was staring round at everything with a horrible hurt expression on his face. Kyle always liked to have everything so neat…and the fact that Bruce was one of Kyle's best friends made it even worse. Lauren softened her expression.

"Come on" she said "Lets get this cleared up" she bent down and scooped a pair of jeans from in front of her and dusted a few leaves from them. She couldn't tell who's they were but she went and put them over on a clean piece of ground, starting a pile.

"Don't worry" Bethany said picking up a T-Shirt "We can get them washed soon. We've only got two days left" she glanced uncertainly over to Kyle. Lauren walked over to him.

"This has gone too far now" she said softly "We have to tell Mac-"

"No" Kyle interrupted her and the three girls looked over at him. He was holding one of Lauren's shirts "This is personal now. This is serious. When we get back to campus, we do anything and everything we can do to get them back, and I mean get them back good. We'll get help, James and Kerry when they get back, the twins, Shakeel, anyone and everyone. We'll get them back" Lauren felt a grin creep up on her face.

"Let's do it".

Kerry was bored. Chanelle and her mates had gone round to the corner shop to, and as Chanelle put it

"See if we can scrounge some fags". Kerry hadn't bothered going with them. She knew now that the biggest lead they had was Alex. Chanelle seemed a bit small in comparison.

She glanced around the playground. A grey drizzle hung in the air and not many kids were around. Then Kerry spotted Alex in the corner where he usually was. He was on his own. Kerry wandered over. She hoped she'd be able to ask him more about his mum.

"Hiya" she said as she approached him "Mind if I come and sit next to you?" Alex shrugged. Kerry thought he looked pretty miserable.

She sat down next to Alex and curled her arms around her legs.  
"Thanks again for yesterday GG" Alex said still staring ahead. Kerry shrugged

"It was nothing", there was a brief pause "Anyway who's died?" Alex looked over at her, a confused look on his face. "Sorry" Kerry said "bad joke, I mean you look pretty down. You OK?" Alex made a tutting sound.

"Where do you want me to start?" he glanced at her "I mean – sorry – it's just my mum's been getting to me"

"Why?" Kerry asked quietly. Alex sighed.

"She's just. She has no idea…" he trailed off and looked at Kerry. "Never mind" he got up. Kerry swore inwardly, for a moment it had seemed as if Alex was going to open up to her, but he'd pulled back at the last second.

Kerry clambered to her feet too.

"James should be home by now" Alex said, "We were at my house. I don't think he left too soon after me" Kerry frowned

"You left? Why?" Alex shook his head again, staring away, then he looked back at Kerry.

"Got bored" he said, he turned away and started walking away. "See you later GG!!" he walked off and out of the playground. Kerry stared at his retreating back for a couple of seconds before setting off to the house herself.

James had just finished filling in Chloe on what he'd found out from Mrs Stepford when Kerry came in, her hair damp from the drizzle. She grimaced at the pair.

"I was that close to getting him to tell me something" she sighed and sat down at the table with the other two.

"Well" said Chloe getting up to put the kettle on "James has got you both a job with Mrs Stepford."

"Really?" Kerry asked "Alex didn't say anything about it"

"I don't think he was particularly impressed with the idea" James observed. "But we've got to go back tomorrow. Mrs Stepford wants to talk to you Kerry. I was hoping you could keep her distracted for a while so I could plant some microphones. I didn't get a chance today."

"Yeah that should be ok" Kerry answered, "I'll get some more information about it too". Chloe nodded.

"Good. This mission seems to be going somewhere now. I'll get some information on Mrs Stepford faxed from campus and once you find out what's going on we'll talk in terms of a plan. Good work kiddos." James rolled his eyes.

"Let's just hope that Alex doesn't get in the way" Kerry said "After all, it would be terrible if our lead stops the mission." Chloe nodded

"Keep at it. This mission's turning into a big one. We don't want to mess it up".

Kerry rapped loudly on the door. Rain drummed down around her, but although Kerry was dry under her umbrella, James was stood next to her soaking wet. It was part of their plan and, although James hadn't been very keen on the idea, it was the only way they could think of to get what they wanted.

The door opened. Mrs Stepford's eyes grew wide as she saw the pair in the doorway.

"Oh Come in!" she exclaimed stepping aside to let them into the house. Kerry shook the water off her umbrella before Mrs Stepford closed the door.

"James you're soaked! Would you both like a hot drink?"

"Yes please" Kerry answered.

"Mrs Stepford here's my sister Kerry she's interested in the job" Mrs Stepford nodded and smiled.

"Good. Now James you go upstairs and get dried, I'm sure you'll be able to borrow some clothes from Alex's room"

"Is he in?" James asked. Mrs Stepford shook her head.

"Goodness knows where he is in this weather but he's not home" She smiled again.

"There should be towels in the bathroom. Kerry why don't you go and wait in the lounge and make yourself comfortable while I get the drinks?" Kerry nodded.

"Thanks Mrs Stepford" James said heading up the stairs, keeping the polite, good boy act up.

"You're welcome James. And please call me Alison". She walked off towards the kitchen.

"Keep her for as long as you can" James hissed to Kerry as he started up the stairs.

"I'll do my best. Good luck!" Kerry's whisper floated up towards James as he jogged up the stairs, guiltily aware of how much he was dripping on the carpet.

James grabbed a towel from the bathroom and slung it round his shoulders. Then he peeled his sweatshirt off his skin and pulled the plastic bag off his stomach. Inside the bag was half a dozen high tech microphones, plus a memory stick. James spotted somewhere to put a microphone straightaway. A small, round mirror hung from the wall above the sink. James lifted it off the wall easily and fitted a microphone to the bracket at the back before returning the microphone to it's original position.

In the next ten minutes James placed three more microphones about the upstairs. One in Alison's room, one in a spare room, that looked as if it also doubled as a dressing room, and one in a study. There was a laptop in the study too and James desperately wanted to get his hands on it, but he was conscious of time and didn't know how long Kerry would be able to keep Alison busy.

He wandered into Alex's room and picked out some jeans and a tracksuit top. James managed to get changed in less than thirty seconds. He bundled his wet clothes into a spare supermarket bag along with the plastic bag with the two last microphones and the memory stick. As he left the room James hesitated, Should he put a microphone in Alex's room? In the end James decided against it. They probably wouldn't learn anything from Alex and besides, it felt like he would be betraying a mate…

James glanced at his watch before diving into the study on his way back. The laptop was already on, a screensaver of jazzy lines danced across the screen. James stopped it and went to the most obvious place: My Documents. When it came up James realised he'd never be able to sort through everything so he shoved it the memory stick and uploaded everything. It still took the best part of five minutes though and James jigged on the spot, ready and waiting to snatch the memory stick and get back downstairs again before Alison came looking for him.

As soon as it told him the transfer was complete James removed the memory stick and made sure he'd covered all his tracks before leaving the computer be, hoping that the screen saver would start up again quickly.

He jogged back down the stairs holding the bag and could see Alison sat with her back to him and Kerry across the room. Kerry spotted him and gave the smallest movement of her head towards the kitchen. James smiled as he walked past. Kerry had just indicated he could go and plant some more microphones without showing she'd seen him.

James quickly placed the two other microphones: one in the kitchen behind the microwave and the other in the TV room, inside a lampshade before heading back to Alison and Kerry. When he walked in the pair were just standing up.

"Oh There you are James. I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost" Alison smiled smarmily. James laughed politely.

"It's a wonderful house" he said, coming off subject but still linking it to what Alison had just said.

"Thank you" Alison said. "Well anyway your sister and I are about done now and she has all the details of what you need to do. I trust you'll carry them out efficiently?"

Kerry nodded. "Good" Alison said "Now, how about a drink?"

Kerry lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. She and James had returned to their house and told Chloe about everything. James had sent the info on his memory stick to campus and they had phoned back saying it would take a while to sort through, and that the microphones James had placed were working. They had heard Alison talking on the phone. Apparently there had been a HUGE snail on her mum's patio that morning. Ewart had barely been able to control himself laughing when he'd called and Zara had had to take over the phone call and finish up.

Kerry kept mulling over the details Alison had told her and felt nervous when she thought of her and James doing them. She loved being a Cherub…but sometimes she got so nervous on missions. What if something went wrong? Kerry sighed and told herself to stop being so stupid – she always got the jitters and there was no need for it. She eventually let her thoughts lie and turned over to try to get some sleep.

Alex sat staring out of his bedroom window at the navy sky, blotched with black cloud. He felt his mum come up behind him.

"Where were you today?"

"Out" he replied. Alison sat down next to him.

"I want you to go with Kerry and James to the warehouse"

"You can't make me" Alex said, "I don't want to go"

"You have to" Alison said "And yes – I can make you. You want the police around? Who are they going to believe? A poor defenceless mother trying to take care of her wayward son? Or a stupid little teenage thief, ASBOs and drunken sex?" Alex looked at her, his face pale.

"That's not true. You can't do that" Alison pursed her lips into a sly smile.

"Yes it is. And yes I can. You want that to happen?" Alex looked away again and shook his head slowly.

"Thought so" Alison said "Then you're going with Kerry and James and you're going to help them get the stuff. Whether you like it or not". Alison turned and walked out of the room. Alex leant his head against the cold windowpane, swallowing to get rid of the lump in his throat, hearing the click as his mother locked the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was just turning dark when they stepped off the bus. James shivered as he walked into the blustery drizzle that had hung around for most of the morning.

"Great" Kerry muttered checking her watch as the bus accelerated back down the road. "We're late". James checked his on watch.

"We'd better get going then, come on" he hitched his rucksack up on his shoulder and set off walking down the desolate lane. Kerry glanced back at Alex and gave a half-hearted smile.

"Come on, it's just one little job, then we can get a load of cash" Alex's face didn't change one bit as he trudged after Kerry and James.

The building seemed to be deserted. It was a large, concrete and square, which looked to be about six stories high. There weren't any signs to indicate what the building was and a large fence ran the perimeter. James could see a single, small guardroom up near the top left hand side of the building, but from what Alison had said, there was another one on the other side.

James crouched down and pulled a couple of bottles of beer out of his rucksack. He handed it to Kerry and she drank a couple of mouthfuls before splashing some onto her T-shirt and passing it to Alex. It was a technique that James and Kerry had used before at Cherub, and it was one of James's favourites. If they were caught, they could act as if they were drunken kids messing around.

"OK" Kerry said glancing at the other two, after James had finished off the beer, perhaps a little more than he needed. "The emergency exit should be round that side, if we keep in the shadows of the fence we should be able to get to it without being seen by either of the two guardrooms" James glanced at Alex

"Your mum said there weren't any patrols at this time of evening?" Alex reluctantly nodded.

"They start the patrols about an hour after it gets dark" James checked his watch again. Darkness was just beginning to hang in the air.

"So that gives us about fifty minutes altogether" he grimaced "Not much time".

"Maybe we should just go back" Alex muttered behind them. Both Kerry and James turned to look at him.

"No way" James hissed, "I really need the cash Alex" Kerry put her hand on Alex's shoulder.

"We need your help Alex, only you know what these documents look like, without you we'd be lost"

When Alison had gone through the details she'd refused to tell Kerry and James what it was they were meant to be stealing. All she'd said were that they were some ordering documents for something that was being shipped in that week. She'd told them that she'd tell Alex the rest and that was one of the reasons she wanted him going.

James offered an encouraging smile to Alex as the three of them set off across the road to the building, keeping their heads down. They reached the fence in no time at all, and after a quick glance around started to slowly make their way along it. All three teenagers were dressed in black, and there were few streetlights about helping them to blend into the night.

They soon reached the gate Alison had described. There was a chain slung through it, but the padlock was undone. Kerry carefully eased the chain out of the gate, wincing each time it jingled loudly into the silent air around them. Soon the chain was out and Kerry hid it in the grass next to the fence. Praying it wouldn't make any sound Kerry pulled the gate open. It was quite heavy so she gestured for James to come and help her. There was a brief scrape as the gate slid on the concrete but the two of them managed to open it with ease.

Once they were all through James closed the gate behind them and they set off quickly across the yard. It was a chilling five seconds. Kerry kept expecting them to be lit up with a huge spotlight. They managed to reach the emergency exit without a problem. Kerry stood with Alex against the wall while James opened the door.

"Shit!" Kerry frowned and edged up to James

"What's wrong?" she whispered

"It's bloody locked!" James replied. "Alex!" Alex came up to them, his eyes wide in the moonlight.

"What?" he asked.

"I thought you said it would be unlocked?"

"It should be" Alex gasped, "My mum said that the latch was broken so it was never shut fully!"

"Well I guess they got the latch fixed" James growled. He resisted the urge to kick the door, knowing the sound would attract attention. Instead he looked at the other two.

"Now what?" Alex looked as if he was going to say they should leave but Kerry spoke first.

"Well there doesn't seem to be anyone about. Lets just head round the building and find another door, there's got to be one open somewhere" James nodded in agreement and immediately set off along the wall.

Chloe Blake sat at the laptop in the cramped kitchen, headphones in, listening to the bugs James had planted in the Stepford's home. So far she'd heard a lot of rubbish, and silence, but now Alison was on the phone in the kitchen, and what she was saying was pretty interesting…

"I'll get them by tomorrow", Alison's voice was clear through the headphones, and Chloe wished that she could hear the other end of the phone conversation, but for now she had to concentrate on what Alison was saying.

" Of course I will Ken, I've got someone on them tonight…but I thought…? No down at the offices…which ones do you think…? But I thought you said…? Look Ken I'll get them don't-…no, please I'll get them…please Ken just leave it" There was a longer pause here and Chloe sat, holding her breath, her heart beating heavily, Alison continued. "I'll sort them…they went to get it for me tonight…they won't talk…no Ken please you can't…Ken please it's my son!" Apparently, the person on the other end hung up because Alison stopped talking and Chloe could hear her breathing heavily "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit" Alison swore to herself before her footsteps indicated she'd left the kitchen.

Chloe sat in shock. She was scared, very scared. From what she'd just heard, James, Kerry and Alex were in much bigger danger than they'd previously thought. Chloe jumped out of her seat and grabbed her mobile, she had to warn the Cherub HQ ASAP.

About five meters along the wall James, Kerry and Alex managed to find a window that was unlatched. James lifted it open and Kerry slipped through, quickly checking both ways before dropping to the floor. Alex went after her, followed by James who closed the window behind them.

The corridor they were in was pitch black, only the green glow of the emergency exit sign along the corridor gave them any idea of which way they needed to go. Alison had told them to head for the stairs at the southern end of the building, which meant they needed to head back past the emergency exit up to the end of the corridor.

There was a damp, musty smell about the place. The paint on the wall was peeling and the carpet had been stripped to reveal hard, grey concrete. Either this building was uncared for, or rarely used. James suspected a third option. If Alison wanted them to steal from a place like this, it probably meant that it was involved in some sort of illegal trade. Perhaps Alison was involved in more than just local burglaries.

By the time they'd reached the stairs, the glow had faded into the blackness behind them so James swung the rucksack off his shoulder again and pulled out a torch. He tossed it to Kerry while he put the rucksack back on. Kerry flicked on the torch, lighting up the stairway. It made James feel uneasy, torches were a sure way to attract attention, but there was little that could be done, they needed to see where they were going.

Surprisingly, Alex took the lead up the stairs. As they approached the first floor a draught ploughed into them and James noticed a broken window further up the corridor. The first floor wasn't in much better condition than the ground. The red carpet was stained and a moulded water cooler lay on its side across the corridor.

"What happened to the cleaners?" Kerry whispered as the torch beam lit up a suspect stain on the wall.

"I think" James said, voicing his earlier concerns "It's abandoned, but perhaps not everyone has abandoned it". Alex looked at them.

"What you mean, that it's not a proper business?"

"Doubt it" James muttered as they reached a row of doors. The first one was labelled 1A. James looked at Alex.

"You said first floor, what office do we want?" Alex looked at the next door.

"We want 1D" he said squinting in the darkness. Kerry lit up the door numbers as they carried on down the corridor.

1D didn't seem much different from any of the other doors.

"Here goes nothing," James said reaching out for the handle while Alex glanced nervously up and down the corridor.

The door was unlocked. James peered in as Kerry's torch lit up the room.

"Wow" she muttered "Guess they're not as poor as they look". The office inside 1D was anything from unused. A state of the art PC stood on the curved, wooden desk, behind which was a plush leather desk chair. A healthy potted plant was in the corner and a filing cabinet stood next to the window, which was covered by deep blue blinds.

The three stood dazed for a couple of seconds before James walked over to the filing cabinet, gesturing for Kerry to follow him with the torch.

"Ok Alex, time for you to tell us what we're looking for". With a new-found enthusiasm Alex strode towards the desk.

"It's a shipping order, should be dated for the fifth of July, courtesy of Polosty Shipping Company, an order of…" Alex trailed off as a clang vibrated up from outside. It was shortly followed by the bang of a door and heavy footsteps on the hard floor. James could hear Alex's breath coming out in short gasps and Kerry's eyes wide and shining. She glanced to the door before looking back at James. Alex looked at them.

"Oh God" he said, his voice trembling "There's someone here!"

Lauren sat at Bethany's desk drumming her fingers on the wood irritably.

What's the answer to number six?" Bethany was behind her on the bed, her feet in the air, pen in her mouth as she struggled with her Geography homework. Lauren glanced down at her own paper; all that was written on it was the date and her name. She sighed.

"I don't know" she replied "To be quite honest I couldn't care less about the sediments in rivers at the moment" she turned round in her chair and looked at her friend. Bethany was frowning.

"Why?" then she twigged on what Lauren meant. "Oh you're not still obsessed with getting Bruce back are you Lauren? You and Kyle already soaked their mattresses, we're even what more do you want?" Lauren rolled her eyes.

"I want to be more than even" she said "I want to show Bruce how much of a mistake he made when we were on the training". Bethany half grinned.

"Well in that case, I do have an idea…"

Ten minutes later Lauren and Bethany were outside Bruce's room, arms full of leftovers from that evening's meal. Lauren flashed an evil grin at Bethany before reaching out to open the door, only for it to be opened from the inside before she could. Bruce stepped out of his room, and seeing Bethany and Lauren burst into laughter.

"When are you going to accept the fact you're not going to win?" he asked still grinning. Lauren frowned.

"What do you mean?" Bruce gestured to the food in her arms.

"It's just that I think I beat you to it" Lauren pursed her lips before turning away and heading back up the corridor. All she could hear as she and Bethany headed back up to their own rooms was Bruce's laughter from behind them. It felt horrible.

James couldn't seem to make his brain worked properly. They were about to get discovered, rifling through documents in a secret office in a building that seemingly housed a business for illegal trade. No amount of alcohol was going to excuse this…

It was Kerry that pushed him into action. She switched off the torch and pulled James to the door. She peered out slowly. There was no one on the corridor, but she could hear voices from downstairs and they were getting louder:

"Where are they?" A gruff voice floated up the stairwell.  
"Not sure, probably in the offices upstairs, Ken didn't mention…He just told us to find them and sort it".

Kerry sucked in the breath through her teeth, she bobbed her head back into the office as the men's torch beam flashed down towards her.

"They're looking for us" she whispered into the darkness. James made back towards the door.

"We've got to get out of here". Kerry caught his arm.

"We can't, they've already reached the end of the corridor". Alex interjected from behind the desk.

"Have they got guns?" His voice was shaky and uncertain.

"I don't know" replied Kerry "I didn't see any but I'd bet both my arms they do". James strode over to the window and peered through the blinds. It was a sheer drop to the ground onto the solid concrete. Too far to jump.

Instead, James quickly walked back over to the door and opened it. The men had fallen silent but he could hear them opening the door to 1A.

"Right" James looked to the other two "We're going to have to make a run for it." Alex glared at him in horror.

"Are you kidding?". James glanced over as Kerry joined him at the door.

"You want to hang around and get shot?" Alex didn't reply but he walked over and joined the three at the door.

"We're going to have to run straight past them, charge them down" Kerry whispered, both boys nodded to show they understood and Kerry felt as though her heart was in her mouth.

"Ready?" She whispered. "Go!"

The three of them charged out of the room. The men were both peering into 1B when they heard the sound, they both turned just in time to see three kids charging towards them at full speed before they went sent to the ground from the onslaught.

James pinned one of his assailants into an arm lock before kicking him in the stomach. The man groaned and rolled over, but James knew he'd be up soon, and without the element of surprise, they wouldn't have much of an advantage over the heavily built men.

James grabbed Alex's arm and started running towards the stairs. Kerry wasn't far behind him after giving her assailant a kick too, though a bit further down. They'd barely reached the top of the stairs when a plume of bullets flew after them. The harsh bangs lit up the silence and James could hear the men chasing after them.

Kerry reached the stairs and started down them, two at a time, Alex almost stepping on her heals. It felt as though her heart was in her throat, and she expected at any moment to be brought down by a bullet.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, Alex almost falling as he propelled himself off the bottom step. She charged down the corridor, almost going past the emergency exit doors. Alex grabbed her sleeve and they ploughed into the double doors, they flung open and the air hit Kerry's face in a cold blast as they ran outside. She almost stopped in her tracks when she saw what was outside.

Six cars were parked in the yard. There were people sat in all of them. Kerry's breath came out in short gasps as she kept on running, her feet hitting the ground hard. The bullets kept firing behind them and Kerry risked a brief glance behind her, the two men had just come out of the building, and worse people were clambering out of the cars. But Kerry could see the gate and in less than a split second she'd reached it.

That's when the dull thud of sick realisation hit Kerry like a ton of bricks. James wasn't with them. She'd been so set on escaping, so sure that James would be there too.

"Oh God" she whispered. She turned and started to run back to the building but Alex grabbed her arm.

"No!" he yelled "Come on!" Kerry whipped round as Alex started to drag her to the gate he'd opened.

"James is still in there!"

"We can't" Alex protested as the two of them started across the road, Alex hauling Kerry along. "They're coming!" Kerry could see the two men approaching the gate and with a sad realisation she knew Alex was right. But she threw all realisations away and continued to fight against Alex as he pushed her into the woods.

"I need to get him Alex I can't-".

Kerry was broken off by a mass off sound and heat. She and Alex were thrown off there feet as a plume of flame surged towards them. Kerry hit the ground and, covered in dirt and leaves. She scrambled up, and, panicked looked back at the building…Only to see that it was now a accumulation of black smoke and bright orange flame. Tears automatically sprung to Kerry's eyes.

"James…" she stuttered, standing, shocked. Alex was stood next to her, eyes also wide with shock. He still grasped one of her arms to prevent her from trying to get back to the building but Kerry had a different idea. She pulled her mobile out of her pocket and called Chloe. As soon as the call connected Chloe gasped with relief.

"Kerry, we've been trying to get in contact with you-" Kerry broke her off.

"Chloe you've got to get a team out here, there's been an explosion"

"I've got people on it now" Chloe replied efficiently. "You need to get out of there, is James with you?" Kerry couldn't stop the sob rising in her throat.

"No he's still in the building, please Chloe" there was a short pause on the other end of the line. Chloe spoke again,

"We've got people coming now Kerry I want you to get out of there, we'll get James, now listen I want you to go and wait on the main road by the bus stop, there should be a driver there to pick you up, red Ford Focus, reg WE01 TNA. He doesn't know about Cherub but he does work for us ok? I want you to go there now."

"Alex is with me"

"That's ok, bring him with you, we'll sort it, we'll sort everything, we'll get James, just go ok?" Kerry replied the affirmative and ended the call. She tried to control her breathing, trying to reassure herself that Cherub would get James out. She looked at Alex who still looked like he'd been punched in the guts.

"You ok?" asked Kerry. He nodded

"What's going on?" Kerry set off through the woods, the men had seemingly vanished, though the cars were still all parked in the yard. She glanced at Alex.

"My mum's sent a car for us on the main road, she's called the police". Alex winced at the word but didn't say anything.

"What about James?" he asked. Kerry paused for a moment.

"The police will get him". They both fell into silence and Kerry could only wish that her statement rang true.

Lauren yawned and rolled off the beanbag. She and Bethany had dumped the food and come back to Bethany's room in a rage. They still hadn't discovered what Bruce had done and Lauren could only be prepared for whatever it was.

Bethany was on a beanbag next to her and looked away from the film when Lauren hit the floor.

"Are you going to bed?" she asked. Lauren nodded.

"I'm pooped, and it's really not gonna be good if I fall asleep in Maths tomorrow"

Lauren gathered up her things, a jumper and her shoes just as Bethany's phone rang. Bethany frowned at her as she picked up the phone and Lauren shrugged in reply. She suspected it was a teacher or mission controller. In fact, she thought angrily, it better not be a mission controller, if Bethany had a mission, while she was sat twiddling her thumbs… Bethany put the phone down.

"That was Mac" she said, "He's looking for you". Lauren frowned.

"Did he say why?"

"No, but he sounded pretty mad". Lauren cursed.

"I bet it's whatever Bruce did" she sighed as she pulled her shoes on "Probably some half brained trick to get me into trouble" _And it's worked_ she thought silently, but didn't dwell on the thought.

She bade goodnight to Bethany before heading downstairs to Mac's office. The corridors were almost deserted, a couple of students were around and one teacher almost knocked Lauren down charging down the corridor. Lauren tutted, they were always telling the kids not to run and then they did it themselves… The world would have to implode to get the teachers running… But Lauren's thoughts broke off as she saw what was outside Mac's office.

Lauren's washing was strewn across the front of the door in piles. Strands of it were slung over the chairs. Lauren boiled inside, this must be Bruce's trick…and now she was in trouble with Mac for it.

The door to the office opened, and Mac waved her inside. His face was drawn and tired and he avoided Lauren's gaze.

"Sit down Lauren" Mac gestured her to sit down at the desk. Lauren obliged and stared at Mac curiously. He rubbed his face with his hands and sighed.

"Mac?" Lauren asked tentatively. Mac looked up at her.

"Lauren did you know anything about James' mission?" Lauren frowned. James? What had any of this got to do with James?

"I thought, the washing?" Mac shook his head.

"Did James tell you anything about the mission?" Lauren frowned again and shook her head.

"Not really, I mean we're not meant to see each other's mission briefings, but I know that it was a low risk mission, reconnaissance, with Kerry".

"Right" Mac said, "You see Lauren there have been a few complications with James' mission, there were…_unforeseen_ circumstances.

"What do you mean?" Lauren could feel her skin heat up, prickles broke out all over her scalp…"Is James OK?" Mac paused before he answered her.

"No Lauren- I'm afraid James is dead".

* * *

**A/N: This chapter and all those previous have been updated since 15/04/08. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, it is much appreciated, and I really will try to update soon! - Elle xx**


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